The Director’s Seminar Series, which features panels of Princeton University faculty who deliberate core questions from a multidisciplinary and comparative perspective, was launched at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year by Deborah Yashar, the Donald E. Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs and director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

This year’s unifying theme is Global Existential Challenges.

Fall Series

Global Existential Challenges: Elections and Democracy around the Globe
Oct 24, 2024, 12:00 pm
Speakers:

Rebecca Bill Chavez, President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue

Evan Lieberman, Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa…
Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Global Existential Challenges: Designing Mechanisms for Addressing Political Polarization in Voter Behavior
Nov 14, 2024, 12:00 pm
Simon A. Levin, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University

Samuel S. Wang, Professor of Neuroscience, Princeton University

Discussant:
Keena Lipsitz, Associate Professor of Political Science…
Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Global Existential Challenges: The Surprising Resilience of Global Democracy in the 21st Century
Dec 9, 2024, 12:00 pm

Speaker:

Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University

Discussant:

Nancy Bermeo, Professor of Politics, Emeritus, Princeton University

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71

Spring Series

Global Existential Challenges: Crime and Punishment: Policing, Race and Injustice
Feb 8, 2024, 12:00 pm

Laurence Ralph, professor, anthropology

Patrick Sharkey, William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs

Maria Micaela Sviatschi, assistant professor, economics and public affairs

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Environmental Challenges and Innovations
Mar 7, 2024, 12:00 pm

Allison Carruth, professor, American studies and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Wei Peng, assistant professor, public and international affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Gabriel Vecchi, professor, geosciences and director, High Meadows Environmental Institute

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Global Poverty and Precarity
Apr 4, 2024, 12:00 pm

Pascaline Dupas, professor, economics and public affairs

Seema Jayachandran, professor, economics and public affairs

Anuj Ahah, associate professor, psychology

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video

2023-2024 Series

Global Existential Challenges: Authoritarian Politics: Coercion and Dissent
Sep 14, 2023, 12:00 pm

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, professor, Near Eastern Studies; director, Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies

Elizabeth Nugent, assistant professor, politics

Grigore Pop-Eleches, professor, politics and international affairs

Yu Xie, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Sociology

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Free Speech: Ethics, and Democracy
Oct 12, 2023, 12:00 pm

Stephen Macedo, Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values

Arvind Narayanan, professor, Computer Science

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor for Distinguished Teaching

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Public Health and Wellbeing: Learning From The Past, Preparing For The Future
Nov 2, 2023, 12:00 pm

Angela Creager, Thomas M. Siebel Professor in the History of Science

Noreen Goldman, Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs

C. Jessica Metcalf, associate professor, ecology, evolutionary biology and public affairs

Sanyu A. Mojolo, professor, sociology and public affairs; Maurice P. During Professor of Demographic Studies; director, Office of Population Research

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Politics and Information-Digital Technologies: Debating Peril and Promise
Nov 30, 2023, 12:00 pm

Ruha Benjamin, Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor African American Studies

Beth Semel, assistant professor, anthropology

Jacob Shapiro, professor, politics and international affairs; director, Empirical Studies of Conflict Project

Xu Xu, assistant professor, politics and international affairs

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room A71
Global Existential Challenges: Crime and Punishment: Policing, Race and Injustice
Feb 8, 2024, 12:00 pm

Laurence Ralph, professor, anthropology

Patrick Sharkey, William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs

Maria Micaela Sviatschi, assistant professor, economics and public affairs

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Environmental Challenges and Innovations
Mar 7, 2024, 12:00 pm

Allison Carruth, professor, American studies and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Wei Peng, assistant professor, public and international affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Gabriel Vecchi, professor, geosciences and director, High Meadows Environmental Institute

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Global Poverty and Precarity
Apr 4, 2024, 12:00 pm

Pascaline Dupas, professor, economics and public affairs

Seema Jayachandran, professor, economics and public affairs

Anuj Ahah, associate professor, psychology

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Indigenous Politics: Interrogating Autonomy, Sovereignty and Inclusion
May 2, 2024, 12:00 pm

Carlos Fausto, PIIRS Global Fellow; professor, anthropology, Museu Nacional, UFRJ

Paul Frymer, professor, politics

Ikaika Ramones, assistant professor, anthropology

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71

2022-2023 Series

Global Existential Challenges: Democratic Challenges and Backsliding in the Global South
Sep 29, 2022, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Atul Kohli, David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs

Jeremy Adelman, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History; Cotsen Faculty Fellow; director, Global History Lab 

Jennifer Widner, professor of politics and international affairs; director, Innovations for Successful Societies

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Global Existential Challenges: Democratic Challenges and Backsliding in the Global North
Oct 27, 2022, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Mark R. Beissinger, Henry W. Putnam Professor of Politics

Jan-Werner Müller, Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences; director, Program in Political Philosophy

Kim L. Scheppele, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Development and Precarity in Times of Global Crisis
Nov 17, 2022, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Miguel Centeno, Musgrave Professor of Sociology; professor, sociology and Princeton School of Public and International Affairs; vice dean, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs 

Thomas Fujiwara, associate professor, economics and public affairs; co-director, Brazil LAB

Leonard Wantchekon, James Madison Professor of Political Economy; professor, politics and international affairs 

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Gender, Sexuality, and Reproductive Rights Around the Globe
Dec 8, 2022, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Elizabeth M. Armstrong, associate professor, sociology and public affairs; head, Butler College

Tanushree Goyal, assistant professor, politics and international affairs

Kristopher Velasco, assistant professor, sociology

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Global Order, War, and Weapons
Feb 9, 2023, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Gary Bass, professor, politics and international affairs

Michael Gordin, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History; director, Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts 

Zia Mian, research scientist; co-director, Program in Science and Global Security

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Global Existential Challenges: Global Migration, National Borders, and In/Exclusion
Mar 2, 2023, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Rafaela Dancygier, professor, politics and international affairs; director, Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice 

Filiz Garip, professor, sociology and public affairs 

Anna Stilz, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values 

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: Environmental Challenges and Sustainability
Apr 6, 2023, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

João Biehl, Susan Dod Brown Professor of Anthropology; chair, Department of Anthropology

Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute; director, Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment 

Anu Ramaswami, Sanjay Swani ’87 Professor of India Studies; professor, civil and environmental engineering, the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute; director, Chadha Center for Global India 

Elke Weber, Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment; professor, psychology and the School of Public and International Affairs; associate director for education, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; director, Fung Global Fellows Program 

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video
Global Existential Challenges: The Art(s) of Domination and Resistance
Apr 27, 2023, 12:00 pm1:30 pm

Karen Emmerich, associate professor, comparative literature; director, Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication 

Chika Okeke-Agulu, Robert Schirmer Professor of Art and Archaeology and African American Studies; director, Program in African Studies; director, Africa World Initiative

Laurence Ralph, professor, anthropology 

Max Weiss, associate professor, history

Location
Louis A. Simpson International Building, A71
Video